‘Threatening’ Use of Toy Weapons Is Banned by County

In the wake of last week’s on-air drama in which TV reporter David Horowitz was forced to read a statement at “gunpoint,” the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday passed urgency legislation making it a crime to brandish a toy gun in an “angry or threatening way” in Los Angeles County’s unincorporated areas.

The unanimous action followed nearly an hour of debate and demonstrations of how real some of the replica guns appear that are on the market. Sheriff Sherman Block was joined by singer Michelle Phillips in showing a variety of toys to the supervisors.

Block, in support of the county ordinance, noted that the state’s “Use a Gun, Go to Prison” laws do not subject a criminal defendant using a toy weapon to the same harsh penalties.

Jail Term, Fine Possible

Violation of the new ordinance, which is effective immediately, could result in one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The Orange County cities of Costa Mesa and Anaheim have passed similar laws in the past year. The Los Angeles City Council is scheduled to consider such an ordinance at today’s meeting.

Delayed for at least one week was a broader proposal by Supervisor Ed Edelman to boost from a misdemeanor to a felony the penalty for carrying a concealed weapon in the county.

Supervisor Kenneth Hahn’s toy weapon proposal was adopted less than a week after KNBC consumer reporter Horowitz was approached by a gun-wielding man during the station’s newscast. Later identified as Gary Stollman, the son of a former KNBC reporter, the man demanded that Horowitz read to viewers a rambling statement about the CIA.

The weapon turned out to be a toy, but Horowitz told reporters afterward that he was convinced it was an authentic pistol and that he read the statement because he was frightened.

Hahn said the Horowitz incident as well as the recent spate of freeway violence warranted making it a crime to brandish one of the toy weapons in public. A Los Angeles County deputy sheriff recently stopped a car after a child passenger pointed a toy gun at him, Hahn also noted.

Shooting Death Noted

Also cited as reason to support the measure was the shooting death in San Bernardino of 19-year-old Leonard Falcon last April 7. A deputy sheriff killed Falcon after the man reportedly pointed a toy weapon at him, the kind used in the game Lazer Tag. The deputy said later that he thought Falcon had a real weapon.

At Tuesday’s board hearing, Block displayed a collection of the toy weapons with their authentic counterparts.

Holding aloft a Smith & Wesson semi-automatic pistol and its toy replica, Block said, “I defy anyone to have this (toy copy) directed at them in any situation to recognize this is in fact a replica and not a real weapon.”

Block said he does not favor the banning of such toy weapons, explaining, “When a person can go in and purchase the real weapon simply by waiting 15 days, we’re not going to accomplish a great deal by banning the replicas.

“But I do believe that when replica weapons are utilized in a threatening manner under conditions that would lead the victim to believe they are being threatened by an operable firearm, that should be a criminal offense,” Block said.

Singer-actress Phillips, of the 1960s group the Mamas and the Papas, also held up about a dozen toy handguns she said she bought at a local toy store. She then challenged the supervisors to “not be so stupid, weak and ineffectual as to continue to sit by idly when the billion-dollar-plus-a-year toy gun industry continues to harm children either physically or psychologically.”

Mother’s Concern

Phillips told The Times later that this was her first appearance in support of controls over toy weapons. She said her interest was prompted by her own 5-year-old son’s desire for a toy gun.

“When I saw children brandishing M16s and Magnum .44s and every conceivable weapon . . . I felt it was appalling,” Phillips said in the interview. “It really starts with the parents. You either allow it or you disallow it. You either send a message that it’s all right or you take a very unpopular stance that you won’t allow it. It just promotes the destruction of human life.”

In addition to making it a misdemeanor to display a toy gun in a threatening manner, the board also voted to ask the county’s 84 incorporated cities and the state to enact similar laws. The board also urged federal legislation requiring safety warnings and distinctive identification on toy guns to distinguish them from real weapons.

Along those lines, the Daisy Manufacturing Co. of Rogers, Ark., announced this week that beginning next January, it will clearly mark with fluorescent orange paint its toy military and paramilitary guns so that people do not mistake them for the authentic models.

Daisy spokesman Robert Reid said in a telephone interview that the toy weapons, including replica Uzis, M16s and AK-47s would have the orange paint inside and outside the barrel of the guns as well as on the sides.

Reid said that toy weapons account for about one-fifth of the company’s sales, which also include BB and pellet guns. Asked if he is concerned that painting the guns might hurt sales, Reid said, “Quite honestly, we don’t care. We really hope our competition follows suit.”

Shooting Suspect Sought

In another gun-firing incident, an arrest warrant was issued Tuesday for a motorist suspected of shooting a Pasadena woman, the fourth person to die in roadway violence in Southern California, authorities said.

Ronald Fisher Elam, 28, of Los Angeles was being sought on suspicion of murder, attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon, Police Detective Vic Pietrantoni said.

Elam was traced through his car, a 1981 Cadillac, that was identified by witnesses to the Aug. 16 shooting of Debbie Ann Scott, 26, who was a passenger in a pickup truck on a South Los Angeles street.

“We’re looking for him but unfortunately have no idea where he is,” Pietrantoni said.

Scott, a Pasadena mother of three, died Sunday.